Jamshedpur: Even though no archer from Jharkhand was part of India’s historic women’s recurve team that won the country’s first-ever Asian Games gold, athletes nurtured and trained in the state ensured Jharkhand’s contribution to Indian archery remained firmly in the spotlight at Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, on Friday.Tata Archery Academy athlete Ankita Bhakat and Kirti Sharma, who honed her skills at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in Hazaribag, played key roles as India scripted history with a 5-3 victory over defending champions South Korea in the women’s recurve team final.Bhakat, Sharma and Kumkum Anil Mohod defeated the fancied Koreans at Okazaki. India took a 4-2 lead by winning the third set before holding their nerve in a closely contested final set, with Mohod’s decisive 10 sealing the victory.“This is a very special moment for me and for all of us. Winning India’s first-ever Asian Games gold in the women’s recurve team event is something we will always cherish,” Bhakat said.The gold marked a significant improvement for Bhakat, who had won bronze with India’s women’s recurve team at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou alongside Bhajan Kaur and Simranjeet Kaur.A native of Kolkata, Bhakat joined the Tata Archery Academy in Jamshedpur in 2014 and switched to recurve archery. She trained under several coaches, including Padma Shri awardee Purnima Mahato.Sharma too shares a strong connection with Jharkhand. After training at the school level for nearly two years, she joined the SAI centre in Hazaribag in 2022. Since then, she has progressed through the high-performance system and established herself as one of India’s promising recurve archers through consistent performances in national ranking tournaments and selection trials.Sharma’s most notable achievement before the Asian Games came at the 2026 Asia Cup in Thailand, where she won a bronze medal in the women’s recurve team event.Bhakat won her first major international title in 2017 when she partnered Jemson Singh Ningthoujam to junior mixed team gold at the World Archery Youth Championships in Rosario, Argentina.She has since represented India at the Asian Games, World Championships and Olympic Games. In Nov 2025, Bhakat became the first Indian woman to win the recurve individual title at the Asian Archery Championships, defeating South Korea’s Paris Olympics silver medallist Nam Suhyeon 7-3 in the final in Dhaka.Tata Steel vice-president, corporate services, DB Sundara Ramam also termed the achievement a proud moment for the company and the country.
